After a devastating week of winter weather for the Lone Star State, Copperas Cove ISD Maintenance and Custodial Department employees are busy repairing the damage as academic instruction continues on schedule.
âOur first priority was to ensure students were back in the classroom in a safe environment with water, hot meals and everything needed to be able to learn,â said district Superintendent Joe Burns.
Maintenance workers began prepping the schools in anticipation of the winter storm. They continued daily, including weekends, throughout the icy conditions to minimize damage to facilities. But, the freezing temperatures, that are rare in Texas, still resulted in damage to six of 11 CCISD schools.
School students throughout Copperas Cove ISD are showing their appreciation to hospitalized veterans with construction paper, glue, glitter and a lot of red and pink hearts.
With more than 500 valentines collected, Junior Mister Five Hills Trace Hensley is heading up the community service project to distribute the mass of homemade creations just in time for Valentineâs Day to veterans at the Olin E. Teague Veterans Hospital and the Central Texas Veterans Nursing Home â both in Temple.
Traceâs mother, Lori Hensley, said Trace is very excited to be able to deliver valentines to veterans.
âTraceâs dad is a disabled veteran who spends a lot of time at the Temple VA hospital for appointments,â Hensley said. âBefore Trace was in school, he would attend appointments with his dad and he made a lot of friends with the âregularsâ there.â
The ease of texting and emailing has made these methods the preferred ways to communicate for many of the young generations. But, Martin Walker Elementary students are learning that there is still power in the pen â or at least the pencil â and they are developing not only writing skills, but lifelong friendships.
Third grade teacher Molly Goldschmeding is originally from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Her brother, Ben Sleeman, still lives in Michigan and is also a third grade teacher. The siblings decided to create pen pal partnership between their two classes.
âWe are writing a couple letters each month through the duration of the school year and held a Zoom meeting to celebrate Christmas together before the holiday break. This allowed the students to visually introduce themselves to their pen pals, so they could see who they are writing to,â Goldschmeding said. âWe sent pictures and video snippets of the students reading and writing the letters in class to create